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ARGUMENT 



OS- THE QUESTION OF THE 



wmmkw of |loitaru to ^§m\m, 



BEFOKE THE 



LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE, 



Thursday, JFehruary 23, 1SG5. 



BY 



iio:n'. johk h. cliffoed, 



Reported by J. M. W. Yerrinton. 



BOSTON: 

WRIGHT & POTTER, PRINTERS, No. 4 SPRING LANE. 
18 67. 



ARGUMENT OF HON. JOHN H. CLIFFORD. 



Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: — With the embellished oratory of my 
friend, studded as it has been with poetry, and philo.=;ophy, and hi.5tory, though 
history, he must pardon me for saying, not always accurately quoted — if those to 
whom he refers in his closing remarks are here to listen to another rather than 
himself, and come to he gi-atitied by anything that is to be offered to you to-night, 
it is unfortunate for them that his remarks have not been protracted as late into 
the evening session as they were into that which preceded it ; for, sii-, as I regard 
this question, I am of the conviction that Ave have drifted away, in the course of 
the discussion, from a very simple and by no means a novel question, which, 
through you, these petitioners desire to submit to their lawgivers, the Senate and 
House of Representatives of the Commonwealth. It is a question, sii", to them 
and to the Commonwealth, of interest and of moment, I agree ; but it is by no 
means a question such as it has been exhibited here either by the learned repre- 
sentative of the County of Norfolk, Mr. Safford, the sanguine and enthusiastic 
representative of himself, I believe, Mr. Wyman, or my learned friend, Mr. Avery, 
who has so eloquently and beautifully set forth the dangers that are to accrue to 
a system of policy, established in Massachusetts, when the fathers fii'St settled 
upon this soil, and now for the first time, as he claims, in danger of being invaded 
by a legislative act. It was the pleasure of the learned counsel, in.tlie announce- 
ment of his argument to you this morning, Mr. Chairman, to advert to the 
petitioners, who are here asking for this act of legislation, and to involve, in his 
reference to them, some impeachment of their motives. I am almost ashamed, 
gentlemen, Avhen I remember who these petitioners are, to answer the remotest 
allusion to any want of sincerity, of patriotism or of good faith in their action 
before the Legislature of Massachusetts. Who are they, sir ? In the first place, 
they are those whose names are upon the rolls which you have here, and on those 
prepared to be submitted to the Legislature — 7,384 of the citizent* of Boston and 
of Roxbury. By a careful analysis of these petitions, it has been found that upon 
the petitions from Boston, there are 3,362, embrajcing gentlemen of the highest 
character, and of all pursuits, merchants, manufacturers, men engaged in the 
trade and commerce of this city, alive to all its interests, desirous, undoubtedly, 
of promoting them ; and, added to these, 650 of the well-known mechanics and 
thriving laboring men of Boston ; and in addition to these, Mr. Chairman and 
Gentlemen, 1,062 whose occupation is unknown. Then, from the adjacent city 
of Roxbury, — the other party to this measure, — there are presented here, on these 
petitions, more than 2,300 names, embracing, as you know from the testimony, 
not " speculators," not " money-changers " merely, if any such, coming here with 
disguised purposes, but men of every condition of life, interested in the prosperity 
and the good name of that city, whose praises the gentleman cannot sound more 
sincerely or more heartily than I am prepared to do ; gentlemen who have hereto- 
fore been opposed to anne.Kation, but who believe that when, in the course of 
Divine Providence, and by the art and the industry of man, an actual connection 
has been formed, an actual union has been consummated, by the progress of pop- 
ulation and of business, between these two cities, they ought not, looking to the 
I'eal interests of themselves, their contemporaries and their posterity, still to hold 






out against giving it the legislative sanction and confirmation. Does not the 
evidence, Mr. Chairman, disclose precisely this state of things with reference to 
these gentlemen? Has it not appeared in evidence beibre you, that among 
these petitioners is a gentleman of whom it is no disparagement of any citizen of 
Hoxbuiy, however eminent he may be, to say he is their most eminent citizen — 
Dr. Putnam — whohi we had the pleasure of delegating to cast the vote of Massa- 
chusetts at the late election for President of the United States, because bis 
patriotism was as conspicious as his pastoral usefulness and his great intellectual 
distinction, and "who has served faithfully longer than any other man in that city, 
as Mr. Franklin Williams tells us, in advancing the interests of education there, 
as a member of the School Committee ? By his side stands Judge Leland, who, as 
his father before liim, has gone in and out before the people of Norfolk County 
so acceptably as to challenge the respect and confidence of every man who knows 
him. Here, too, are the Messrs. Guild, who have been upon the stand before 
you ; gentlemen Avho say that all their interests, hereditary and social, of property 
and everything else, have been bound up in the city of Koxbury; and that they 
have been opposed to this measure, until they found that the interests, not of a 
few " speculators" and "money-changers," but of the entire community, demand 
that this union, already perfected in fact, shall be consiunmated in form. 

I might, Mr. Chairman, with equal propriety — certainly with equal propriety 
as the suggestion with reference to these petitioners has fallen from the learned 
counsel — refer to the gentlenien who are here as remonstrants. Here is our 
gallant soldier, to whom I desire to pay my humble tribute of respect. Colonel 
Burrill, the City Marshal of Eoxbury. But, by his side, comes Mr. Seaver, 
another city otiicial — the city undertaker ; whose interests evidently are not w^iili 
the living, the thriving, the industrious, but with Roxbury's paupers and Rox- 
bury's dead. He is afraid that the good people of that city will find themselves 
translated to Deer Inland, and that there will be great difficulty, under a union 
with the city of Boston, in getting permits to bury the dead. Another city 
official — Mr. Williams, a highly respectable gentleman — comes liere and tells us 
that he has a certain interest, as Clerk of the Common Council and as Clerk of 
the School Committee ; and Mr. Backup, the Postmaster, who is under the im- 
pression that it is getting to be the habit of our men of w^ealth to despair of 
Republican institutions. Then, Mr. Chairman, we have Mr. Rumney, and I am 
now gi'ouping, simply for a purpose wdiich I shall state the moment I have com- 
pleted, the witnesses on one side and the other — Mr. Rumney, who tiiinks the 
people of Roxbury don't want the value of their estates increased, thinking they 
are about high enough now. Then Mr. Bowdlear, the philosophical pump-maker, 
wdio evidently has no warm side to Cochituate water, wdiich does not requii'e the 
aid of pumps, and who says that the grand idea in his mind wnth reference to this 
"whole project is that it is a question of political economy. I have no disposition, 
Mr. Chairman, it is not according to my taste, nor is it according to my custom, 
in discussing questions of this nature, to discuss parties ; I prefer to discuss their 
opinions ; but the learned counsel went entirely out of his way, I tliought, to 
impute to the gentlemen who are urging this petition here, a Avant of sincerity in 
their avowed purposes and motives, and that they were under a bias, which the 
love of money had caused ; and through his argument, up to its very close, he has 
pressed the point, that Roxbury should not be sacrificed to the money-changers. 
Mr. Chairman, I am not here to ask you to sacrifice Roxbury to anybody. I am 
here, if I understand this case, and I have endeavored to understand it, to ask you 
to do that which shall subserve the highest interests of Roxbury. and which shall 
be, in the mode in which you do it, a recognition of an established pi-inciple of 
American Democracy. I shall not be obliged to go with my iiiend in his 
researches into De Tocqueville, or any other foreign commentator on our institu- 



tions. I shall go to the legislative conception of American Democracy, which 
has been manifested in the history of the legislation of our own Commonwealth ; 
and I say, that instead of this being, as Mr. AVyman said in his remarks the other 
day, an unheard-of thing, the extinguishing of a municipality, or as the learned 
counsel said, even to-night, an unprecedented act of utterly destroying a municipal 
government, I shall ask you to consider what are the legislative precedents with 
reference to it, which bring the question home to us, and enable us to see what 
has been the view of as honest legislators, probably, as are now assembled in 
these halls, — and there can have been none more so. Why, Mr. Chairman, I 
adverted in the progress of the discussion, (and my friend seemed to look with 
some degree of incredulity upon me when I said it,) to the fact that as early as 
1825 an instance occurred in this Commonwealth of the union of two towns, as 
we now ask that Boston and Roxbury may be united. I spoke from recollection, 
simply, because I happened at that time, during a college vacation, to be a 
country schoolmaster in the little town of Dighton, in Bristol Co., when, under an 
act of the Legislature, the little town of Welhngton was utterly expunged from the 
municipal organizations of Massachusetts, and was " annexed," (that was the 
word that was used, but I think a better one Avould be found to be "united,") to 
the town of Dighton, and that " little democracy," that little town of Wellington, 
with its illustrious name, utterly disappeared from the map, and from the rolls of 
the Commonwealth. Still later, sir, the Legislature saw fit, so far as their act 
could consummate it, or rather, so far as they chose that their act should con- 
summate it, to strike out, from the roll of Massachusetts cities and towns, the city 
of Charlestown, and declared, without any misgiving, without any idea that they 
were committing any " atrocity " upon the rights of the people, that by the vote 
of the citizens of Boston and of the citizens of Charlestown, concurrently, 
Charlestown should cease to be a municipal organization, and should become part 
of the city of Boston. We all know very well, sir, that that question was sub- 
mitted to the people of the two cities, that it was ratified by them ; but that, in 
consequence of tlie then existing state of our Representative Districts, and various 
other technical matters which arose on the face of the bill, but which, in the pro- 
gress of events during the last ten years in Massachusetts, have been now entirely 
removed, so that they do not stand in the way of this enterprise at all, it was 
defeated by the decision of the Supreme Court. But the Legislature n^ver 
dreamed, Mr. Chairman, that any such " unheard-of," " unprecedented," atrocious 
violation of Democratic rights was perpetrated by them. Two years later, 
the city of Chelsea was, by a similar act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, 
obliterated from existence, so far as a legislative act could do it, and upon the 
united votes of the city of Chelsea and the city of Boston, Chelsea was to become 
a part of this great anaconda of cities, whose fearful growth is so alarming to 
some of those who would be willing, evidently, to go back to the days of its cow- 
paths and its cow pasture on Boston Common. Chelsea Avas united to Boston, 
by an act of the Legislature, subject to the votes of the two cities : Boston rejected 
it, as it may this. Mr. Backup feels very confident that this is a mere farce that 
we are playing here, because it is a foregone conclusion that the people of Boston 
will defeat tlie measure. But when the citizens of Boston come to appreciate the 
importance of this measure to them, and to their future, I respectfully submit, as 
my prediction, Mr. Chairman, that they will see that it is one of the inevitable 
things in the progress of their prosperity, and that they will encounter it with the 
spirit which looks to the future as well as to the exigencies of the present. Then, 
Mr. Chairman, following upon that, (which was in 185G,) we come down to the 
very last year, when the same "unheard-of" and "unprecedented" act was com- 
mitted by the assembled wisdom of Massachusetts, under the dome of this Capi- 
tol ; for they enacted, as you will find, sir, by a reference to the statutes in the 



Blue Book, that, sul)ject to the vote of tlie two towns of Araesbury and Salisbury, 
in the County of Essex, the ancient town of Salisbury, bordering upon the coast, 
and liaving a precious history of its own, as we all know, should be merged in 
the town of Ainesbury, lose its independent municipal organization entirely, and 
that a new town should be thereupon formed, out of the two towns of Amesbury 
and Salisbury, under the name of Merrimack. Why, Mr. Chairman, Massachu- 
setts legislation has gone further than this, in carrying out what I shall have the 
honor to submit to you is the true Massachusetts idea, as opposed to this idea 
that we must be forever held in the strait-jacket of our childhood, and 
endeavor to make the garments of the boy subserve the wants of manhood. 
Massachusetts, sir, in adjusting the boundary question with its neighbor State, 
Rhode Island, went so far as to concede to that State, and separate entirely from 
her own jurisdiction, the thriving manufacturing town of Pawtucket. And why? 
Because, as it was submitted here, her people, living just as near, precisely, to 
the thriving and growing city of Providence as Roxbui-y is to the city of Boston, 
felt that their interests Avere identified with the growth of Providence ; that their 
business relations were so intimate, their identity of interests (a phrase which my 
friend does not seem to favor as meaning much) so complete, that Massachusetts 
should be willing to make an excision from her borders of a tlu-iving, industrious, 
prosperous manufacturing town, and cede it to another jurisdiction. 

AVhy, Mr. Chairman, why has this course of legislation approved itself to the 
government of Alassachusetts ? Because, sir, the old idea of town lines, of county 
lines, of district lines, of all mere perfunctory organizations has, in the enlight- 
enment of our time and of our people, yielded, righteously yielded to that higher 
service which all organizations are designed to effect — the advancement, the 
culture, the prosperity, the happiness, and the equal rights of every particular 
community. That, Mr. Chairman, is, in my humble judgment, the Massachusetts 
idea. They have regarded all organizations simply as aids to the advancement 
of the individual ; and when the individual is set in communities by a higher 
Lawgiver than they, — who " sets the solitary in families," — promoting social 
happiness and order, and aiding, by all legislation, to advance the interests of 
society ; and when the day comes to any community that the lines within which 
it is municipally circumscribed, are rather restraints upon than aids to their 
advancement, then they are to be dissolved by a wise legislation, and either new 
lines formed or old organizations merged into one. 

Now, in view of this principle — and I think it cannot be too earnestly urged 
upon a Committee of the Legislature, — let us glance for a moment at the history 
of this question ; and I shall not Aveaiy you upon it, I assure you, Mr. Chairman, 
because it has been ah-eady too thoroughly discussed. I think, sir, that no one 
who could have gone Avith us a Aveek or more ago, and vicAved this territory, and 
have looked out from the roof of the Norfolk House in Roxbury, as Ave did, upon 
the most attractive spectacle that can be presented to the eye — that of the houses, 
the Avarehouses, the docks, the wharves, the ships, the harbor, of a gi-eat and 
thriving commu«ity — could have failed to be impressed Avith this thougiit — that 
Boston finds in Roxbury its only natural outlet for expansion ; and Avhen the 
question is put to me sometimes by Avay of objurgation, against great concentration 
of poAver in the metropolis, — Avhy not annex Cambridge, Avhy not annex Charles- 
toAvn, Avhy not annex Chelsea, and all these other toAvns ? my ansAver is,-^One 
thing at a time ; and do not confound apparent similarities Avith close analogies. 
Roxbury stands differently from them all. There is no difficulty in determining 
A\diere Boston ends and Cambridge begins ; as little in determining Avhen a man 
has gone beyond the jurisdiction of Boston and reached that of CharlestoAvn ; or 
gone from the municipal jurisdiction of the city of Boston into that of Chelsea. 
But is it so Avith respect to Roxbury ? Li that view which we took, sir, we saAV 



that tlie old istlirnus, which stretched out towards Roxbury, a dreary, desolate 
swamp, in 1793, when the County of Norfolk was organized, was now, in the 
course of Providence, a compact and well built city, with no line of demarcation 
between the two jurisdictions of Boston and of Roxbury. Roxbury, then, I 
maintain, Mr. Chairman, stands by itself in the consideration of this question. It 
is the only direction which, except by crossing artificial structures, Boston can 
possibly extend, if the increase of her business, her trade, and her population 
demands it ; and therefore it seems to me that that presents in itself a prima 
facie case ; and I submit that the question which was put to the witnesses, (which 
the learned counsel in his argument to-day criticised as being very vague and 
general,) " Do you see any reasons against annexation ? " was a very proper one ; 
because, Mr. Ciiairman, when you have shown two communities, living under 
separate municipal organizations, Avhich have become one in fact, though not in 
form, then you change the burden upon those who would inquire what are the 
reasons for annexation, and the natural, proper and pertinent question is, why 
should they be kept asunder ? They have been joined by the progress which time 
has made, and mutual attractions have brought them together ; why keep up the 
machinery of two municipal organizations when one will serve the purposes of 
both ? 

And now, sir, will it do so? I regard this question as affecting four distinct 
parties ; and in the remarks which I shall have the honor to submit to you, Rox- 
bury stands first. 

These gentlemen, who have come before you, and have testified that, up to a 
recent period, they have been opposed to annexation, have given really the ground 
upon which this petition stands. It has grown, by the natural and normal law of 
growth, into a conviction in their minds, — precisely as, upon this territoiy, it has 
grown to be a fact that they have become one community. In 1793, Roxbury 
was a part of the County of Suffolk. The County of Norfolk was then organized, 
and Roxbury was made a part of that county, making the boundary upon the 
neck, at the narrowest part of that little isthmus, which then was washed by the 
spring tides ; and that accounts for it. • But, Mr. Chairman, has it occurred to 
you, or to any of you, gentlemen of the Committee, that if the Legislature of that 
day, with that territory standing just as it did, could have anticipated the growth 
of this capital of New England, as it has gone on during these last seventy years, 
it would have been the blindness of fatuity for them to circumscribe it within the 
narrow limits which Avere assigned to it in 1793 ? Would not Roxbury, under 
such circumstances, or some portion of the territory in that direction have been 
added to Boston ? Suppose the territory were to-day vnioccupied, vacant land, 
and the Legislature was called upon to organize the city of Boston, and to prescribe 
its territorial limits, is there a person present here, who believes that it Avould be 
organized upon the line which is now claimed to be so sacred and so desirable to 
be retained ? No person, I think, would say that. The Legislature would carry 
the line into the country ; they would carry it where Boston could have that, for 
which, as I shall have occasion, I think, to demonstrate to this Committee, there is 
a vital necessity already approaching her, — more territory ; and in some direction 
she must have it, or she must perish, by that process which has been constantly 
going on, through the unwise want of forecast that has marked the depredations on 
this harbor during the last twenty-five or thirty yeai'S, and in regard to which you are 
already appealed to by those Avho have that matter in charge. Well, sir, it went 
on under those lines until, in 1851, that portion of Roxbury which was eminently 
agricultural in its population and in its pursuits was set off as a separate town — 
the town of AVcst Roxbury. It is in evidence here that it was contemplated at 
tliat time that the more metropolitan portion of Roxbury, — that is, lower Rox- 
bury, — would ultimately be united v/ith Boston ; and upper Roxbury set up the 



claim that her interests and her pursuits were not identical with those of lower 
Roxburj, — tliat si.e was not metropolitan, and the result must be tliat she would 
be dragged into a coiuiection with the city of Boston, when she preferred to stand 
as an indepeniicnt township. Her claim was granted, and she was set off'. Then 
immediately following that, there came an application to the Legislature to unite 
lower Roxbury with the city of Boston. In 1852, the very year after West Rox- 
bury was erecicd into a separate township, this application was made ; and going 
back through this period of thirteen years, we find that, during that period, an 
intelligent community, not acted upon by caprice, not jumping at conclusions, but 
changed and taught by events, has been growing constantly more and more in 
favor of the measure, until it has come to be regarded by one of their most intelli- 
gent and candid witnesses, and one whose testimony I regard as decisive upon this 
question, (Mr. John W. May, a leading witness called by the remonstrants,) as a 
question of time. He has no doubt that, some day or other, Roxbury must be 
annexed to Boston. 

Well, in 1852, what did the Legislature say? There was the opposition of the 
City Government and of the leading property-holders of Roxburj^ and a very large 
opposition from Boston, and the Legislature said — what ? That it would be a 
great "atrocity?" tliat it would be an "unheard-of" and " unprecedented" piece 
of legislation, to extinguish an independent municipality and merge it in another ? 
Not a word of it, Mr. Chairman. The Committee that year, although giving the 
petitioners leave to withdraw, never intimated that, which is now the strength and 
the stress of the 'argument on the other side. They said, in the report signed by 
my old friend, who has passed to his reward within the last year, and who was so 
well known in these halls, — Mr. Bassett, of Barnstable, — " The time has not yet 
arrived, though the Committee have no doubt that ultimately Roxbury will be 
annexed to Boston." (Senate Document of 1852, No. 108.) Well, sir, it rested 
for seven years, — a charmed period, — and then was renewed ; and the Committee 
of that year, (1859,) — of which my friend, Mr. Simmons, who is present, was 
Chairman, — after listening to the same course of evidence, proba'oly, though they 
found the case put upon somewhat different grounds, reported in favor of this 
" startling violation of Democratic principles." That bill, which is Senate Docu- 
ment No. 136 of the year 1859, was submitted, with an able report by the Com- 
mittee ; but the Legislature then encountered such opposition to it, that they said, 
" The time has not yet come," and the bill was lost. But it Avas lost under such 
circumstances, Mr. Chairman, as fortified the convictions of so many friends of the 
measure that they renewed it the very year following; and in 1860 the Committee, 
of which Mr. Tilton, of this city, (then of Essex County.) an intelligent gentleman, 
was Chairman, reported in favor of the measure, in a brief document, referring to 
the former reports, (Senate Document, No. 34 ;) and it received such a degree 
of favor in the Legislature as to meet with its defeat in the Senate by a majority 
of a single vote. Tliat was in 1860. Since that period, Mr. Chairman, the events 
of these four years, which have turned our thoughts more than ever to union, but 
in a larger anct broader sense, have prevented the friends of this measure from 
approaching the Legislature ; but they see now, what it requires no eye of prophet 
to discern, that, as this terrible break into the ordinary course of life and affairs 
throughout this nation is about coming to its close, and the breaches are to be 
repaired, and the regenerated nation is to go forward on a new career, blest and 
sanctified by having purged itself of every national sin, the time must come when 
this project will require the attention of the Legislature, and that they must be 
prepared to join in the march of prosperity thatAvill be open to Boston, as to every 
other city and locality in the land; and they have now come, sir, again. Have 
they come here to ask for any such measure as the learned counsel has depicted 
in his argument? Is there anvthing against Massachusetts ideas, against Massa- 



8 

chusetts policy in this request which they have preferred to the Legislature, and 
which you, gentlemen, are to pass upon ? If there is, I confess I cannot see it. 
"Who are interested in the measure? I cannot, in any justice to you, Mr. Chair- 
man, or to myself, go into the details to the extent and the minuteness which 
characterized the argument of the learned counsel on the other side ; but I must 
be permitted to group some of these considerations, as they bear upon the several 
communities that are to be affected by them. 

To lloxbury, the advantages Avhich are to grow out of the consummation of 
this measure, it seems to me, are obvious. Unquestionably there are divers mat- 
ters which, under any circumstances, will present angles and antagonisms. It 
cannot be otherwise. You talk of separating two communities or of uniting two 
comjiiunities, and there must be antagonistic interests apparent ; and unless men 
can take a broad and comprehensive view of interests which look to the future, 
if they bind themselves down to present exigencies merely, undoubtedly the time 
never will arrive when a measure like this can be consummated. But it seems 
to me that it is worthy of great consideration by the Committee, that those who 
have the largest and deepest interest in this question, and some of whom have 
been most strenuous heretofore in opposition to the measure, have now come to 
the conclusion, as appears by the testimony, that the time has come when it should 
be consummated. It is conceded on all hands, I believe, that there has been a 
marked change of opinion, and that, it seems to me, is an element in determining 
whether the opportune moment has arrived ; because we are so far to give credit 
to the intelligence of the gentlemen who have heretofore been opposed to it, and 
who are deeply interested in it, as to believe that their opinions would not have 
changed unless such were the fact. With respect to all these considerations of 
drainage, of Cochituate water,, of the Public Library, of the schools, and every- 
thing embraced in the details which have been so fully commented upon by coun- 
sel, I cannot conceive it necessary for me to enter, except merely to touch them 
as I go. With respect to this matter of drainage, we do not set that up as the 
ground upon which we ask you to report favorably upon this measure. Cochitu- 
ate water, although it is made very conspicuous in the learned counsel's argument, 
as if we had set it up as a leading consideration, because it has heretofore been 
made a consideration, when Cochituate water was supposed to be more abundant 
than it is now, — Cochituate water has not been set up by us a leading argument 
to induce the Legislature to grant this petition. But I am bound to say, with 
reference to both these questions, that taking the report of Mr. Bradley, the 
engineer of the city of Boston, although he tells us there may be independent 
drainage by Bo>ton and by Roxbury, yet you cannot have failed, I think, to 
gather from his testimony, the impression, that, with the whole matter under one 
municipal jurisdiction, you would have great facilities in tlie drainage of both 
cities ; and in tlie plan which has been dwelt upon by counsel of discharging the 
sewerage of Roxbury through Stony Brook, it is obvious from the testimony that 
its only outlet into Charles River must be through the territory of Boston or 
Brookline. Roxbury has been cut off from the margin of that river entirely. 
And what is the testimony of Mr. Purdy, our own State commissioner, who is 
placed in charge of the Back Bay lands, to conserve the interests of the Common- 
wealth ? What does he tell us ? That there are great difficulties in reference to 
drainage, arising out of there being two jurisdictions instead of one, and that he 
decidedly favors this measure, because it would aid the Commonwealth in that 
respect. And another most significant and striking fact disclosed in the testimony 
of Mr. Purdy is, that they found it an absolute necessity, when, by the decision 
of the Supreme Court, this large tract of territory whicli has been pointed out to 
you upon the map, was assigned to the Commonwealth, being within the territorial 
limits of the city of Roxbury, to have it set off to the city of Boston. What does 



9 

that indicate ? Why, sir, that all the purposes for which a valuable territory (val- 
uable in the future) is to be made to subserve the interests of the Commonwealth, 
can be better pi-omoted by having it under the jurisdiction of the city of Boston 
than under the jurisdiction of the city of Roxbury. And there is another con- 
sideration in connection with that, which I shall have occasion to advert to in 
another connection in a moment — the comparative value of the land, as connected 
with the city of Boston rather than Avith the city of Roxbury. 

Then the Public Library — I have but a word to say upon that. I think, sir, 
if gentlemen who treat this matter lightly, and say that the Athenaeum in the city 
of Roxbury has got a fine library, and will answer all their piarposes, could have 
heard an address to which I once listened, from a gentleman whom you and I, Mr. 
Chairman, have occasion to hold in the highest respect and reverence — the Presi- 
dent of Brown University, Dr. Wayland — upon the value of a great public library 
to the community, in developing, as it Avere by chance, the mind of some young 
genius, that never, but for its pi-esence, would have been developed into brilliancy 
and usefulness, — they would not be likely to underrate the value of the eighty 
thousand volumes of the Boston Public Library, destined in the near futui-e to be 
eight hundred thousand, and unquestionably, upon its present foundation, destined 
to be one of the great libraries of the world, to an entire community who might 
have access to it without fee or i-eward. It will be a very long period, sir, before 
such an institution as that can be established in any one of the lesser cities of the 
Commonwealth. Here it is. It may as well accommodate the people of Roxbury 
as the people of Boston alone ; ample, and growing every day in its means of 
beneficence and usefulness to all who may have access to its alcoves. 

Then, sir, I come to another consideration, Avhich I meet squarely. I have had 
no desire to examine, or cross-examine, with any tenderness, to know whether this 
annexation is likely to increase the value of real estate in Roxbury. I claim — 
and I do not know Avhether I represent in this the opinions of the gentlemen for 
whom I appear or not — I claim as an element which you should consider in deter- 
mining your duty as to this measure, that the inevitable effect of it must be, to 
increase the value of real estate in Roxbury. That, I believe, was the legislative 
opinion, when they said that this fine tract of land here on the Back Bay, belong- 
ing to the Commonwealth, should be transferred from the city of Roxbury to the 
city of Boston. I do not think that the Legislature, when they made that trans- 
fer, thought they were going to diminish the value of that property ; but they said, 
upon the application of the Commissioners, " we deem it of vital consequence that 
it should be done ; " and that act showed the legislative opinion that the land 
would probably be increased in value by the transfer. I claim that it will be. 
And now, Avhat is the effect of an increase in the value of real estate ? It is said 
that it will raise rents ; that the middUng classes, the industrial classes, the 
mechanics and laborers, will find their rents increased, with no greater pi-ivileges. 
Mr. Chairman, can there be an increase in the value of real estate in any toAvn in 
Massachusetts, — I mean, any permanent increase — I agree that there may be a 
sjDCCulative, a sporadic A^alue given, for the moment, to real estate by speculators, 
— but can there be a permanent increase in the value of real estate, except it be 
in consequence of the increased prosperity and thrift of the community who occupy 
it ? An increase in the value of real estate is the consequence of something else ; 
and that something else is the greater prosperity of the community. You may 
discuss it, and theorize upon it, and spin as fine upon it as you will, but is there a 
man of common sense Avho does not feel, — feel as consciousness, more than convic- 
tion, — that an increase in the value of real estate in any community is an indica- 
tion of its groAving prosperity ? Well, sir, if that be so, the effect of that increased 
prosperity upon every class is a desirable effect. If their rents increase, their 
sources of emolument, of compensation for their labor, increase ; their greater 



10 

opportunities for employment bring increased wages ; otherwise, should we not 
stultify ourselves by saying, " We will stop the wheels of progress in our commu- 
nity, because, forsooth, if Ave go on and have a prosperous community, one conse- 
quence of which is increasing the value of our real estate, the industrial classes 
will suffer ? " It is a solecism which cannot exist. To me, sir, it admits the whole 
case, so far as Roxbury is concerned, to say that it wiU increase the value of real 
estate, — so far as their material interests are concerned, certainly, — because it is 
of importance to the general prosperity of the community ; and that, I think, will 
be no objection on the part of the Committee to reporting a bill, if they come to 
that conclusion. 

■ Then, my friend indulged himself in a good deal of irony upon a matter which, 
to my plain common sense, is not a fanciful question — the want of interest, on the 
part of those gentlemen engaged in business in Boston, in the municipal affairs of 
the city of Roxbury. I think, gentlemen, that sensible men do believe that that 
divided interest is an unfortunate one, to any community ; and it is no answer to 
that to say, that these gentlemen come here and say they don't perform their muni- 
cipal duties, and therefore they ask you to do something for them which otherwise 
you would not. I respectfully submit that irony is entirely out of place here. I 
submit to you with great confidence, that, other things being equal, no great inter- 
est being prejudiced, it is eminently desirable that the citizen of every town and 
city in this Commonwealth should have his interests concentrated in the city where 
his property lies, where he is taxed, and where he should perform his municipal 
duties. I believe that to be the opinion of some of the wisest and best men among 
us. 

Then comes the question of the Courts and of the Registry. I do not dwell 
upon these. I think it must be obvious to any one that parties and witnesses, 
jurors and counsel, who have the election to go two miles to a court house or ten 
or twelve miles, — and the one in the direction of all their other business, the other 
directly from the centre of all their other business, — must find very great conven- 
ience, very great advantages, in the change which transfers the judicial business of 
Roxbury and its registration from the Court House at Dedham, to the City Hall 
in Boston. 

I do not dwell upon this matter of loans, which was hardly tolerated as an 
admissible element by the counsel, though I must remind you, Mr. Chairman, and 
him, that Mr. Adams, their witness, said upon that point, in his testimony, all we 
have contended for — that there is some difficulty, arising out of the distance of 
Roxbury from the Registry, in procuring loans even at his bank, and that the 
other banks, corresponding to his own — kindred institutions — decline to take them 
altogether. There is another convenience that the change will bring to the citi- 
zens of Roxbury. 

Then, Mr. Chairman, is it of no consequence to Roxbury, as a municipal corpo- 
ration, that ten millions of the personal property of her citizens are taxed in the 
city of Boston, and not in her own city? The learned counsel went to what seemed 
to me a very great labor to very little result, when he produced his table here to 
show the proportions that exist between the number of polls and the amount of 
assessed value of the personal property in each of the cities of the Commonwealth, 
in order to demonstrate that Roxbury was by no means low in the list, but, in 
some respects, at the head. I do not see the inference that is to be drawn from 
it : because, in the first place, I should suggest that it was entirely sophistical, 
from the fact that the number of poUs, as against the number of inhabitants, is a 
very unfair and unjust element of comparison. Take, for example, the city of 
Lawrence, or the city of Lowell, where the number of polls is so much less in 
proportion to the whole population than it is in an agricultural or commercial city, 
from the greater preponderance of the "homeless and aimless," to whom our excel- 



11 

lent chief magistrate had an eye in his inaugural address. That is an element 
which seems to be left entirely out of the calculation in making that per cent. 
But, Mr. Chairman, aside from all this, it is a matter of no consequence to us. 
We put simply the fact, — we care not what inferences are to be drawn from some 
incidental and indirect view of that fact, — we put the fact, that the municipal cor- 
poration of the city of Roxbury finds that ten millions of the personal property of 
her citizens are taxed in the city of Boston. I say, Mr. Chairman, it is a great 
fact ; it is a fact that indicates that there should be that union in form which 
already exists in fact, for they are, to all intents and purposes, so far as taxation is 
concerned, citizens of Boston. 

Then, Mr. Chairman, so far as Roxbury is concerned, as I said before, we make 
no special point of Cochituate water. But I want the Committee to Hsten to the 
intelligent testimony of Mr. Darracott. Has it not satisfied your minds that if 
this measure is consummated, and Roxbury becomes a portion of the city of Boston, 
an abundant supply of Cochituate water will be obtained for that commvmity, and 
for all the gi-owth that Boston is to make ? An abundant supply : not by requir- 
ing them, as my learned friend says, to pay for it drop by drop, and have a man 
stop to calculate how much it is going to cost him before he washes his hands ; no, 
but even on his own figures, the liberal and generous supply of forty-six gallons a 
day throughout the year, for more than half a million of people — men, women, and 
children. Twenty-three millions of gallons a day, he says, are the capabilities of 
that Cochituate lake. Bring it in by mains, protect and guard it by proper restric- 
tions, and what is to be the result ? You get your three millions of gallons daily, 
and does not that give you forty-six gallons a day for a population of five hundred 
thousand souls, men, women, and children ? 

Mr. AvEKY. The wastage cannot be saved. 

Mr. Clifford. The wastage can be saved. That is the very point, ^ There 
must be restrictions and guards, not upon that " free use of water," which was 
promised in the days of Mr. Quincy, Jr., (who says in his testimony before us, that 
he found Boston sufficiently large for him to manage when he was Mayor, and I 
suppose he would have stopped her where she was,) but upon carelessness and 
waste. Mr. Quincy's name is engraved upon this Beacon HiU reservoir, and his 
conception of what the progress of a great city will be, is shown by the fact that 
that reservoir, as Mr. Darracott tells us, never can return its cost to the people 
of Boston, and to-day would not furnish them with more than one day's supply. 
But here is the point. What is Boston to do, if there is an insufficient supply of 
Cochituate water to-day to warrant that " free use " which is contended for, when 
her area of new land is covered, when the present limits are entirely filled up with 
the population, which, whether the native or foreigner be most prolific, is to be 
here, to fill up these vacant spaces ? What are they then to do ? Why, they are 
to have a new supply, even in the present aspect of things, and in doing that, may 
they not have a supply for Roxbury, as well ? And is it any answer to say, that if 
they can cut off East Boston, if they can withdraw the supply from the Navy- Yard 
and public institutions, — which they can do, now that CharlestowTi has got her 
copious and inexhaustible supply of water from the Mystic, — is it any answer to say 
that Boston is not sufficiently supplied with Cochituate water ? Sir, believe me, the 
scientific skill and intelligent forecast of Boston, whenever Roxbury is annexed, 
will find the means of furnishing to her a supply of water, as she supplies her own 
population to-day. There is no doubt about it. If she failed to do it, it would be 
a confession to the world that she had failed in one of the enterprises which comes 
nearest to the health, to the comfort, to the security of a great commercial metrop- 
olis ; and it never will be, sir. But we have not put that forward as one of the 
leading reasons why we ask for this measure ; it came along incidentally. 



12 

Now, Mr. Chairman, in regard to police, — which is the only other consideration^ 
connected with Roxbury, to which I care to advert. It is said that a small com- 
munity can better manage its police affairs than a large one. Is that true, sir ? If 
I have read history aright, if I have any just and accurate knowledge of the con- 
dition of the present great centres of population, it is eminently untrue. I believe 
it is conceded by all men who are acquainted with the subject, that tlie great city 
of London, which cannot to-day number less than five millions of inhabitants, — four 
times as many as the whole Commonwealth of Massachusetts, — is the best ordered 
city, in reference to its police, that there is in the world ; and I have the faith to 
believe, sir, that whether her police is to be a city police, or a State police, — which- 
ever in its wisdom the Legislature of Massachusetts may devise, — Boston is to go 
on with improvements by which public order and public security will be achieved 
through that instrumentality, with any growth of her population. I have no belief, 
sir, that because there are difficulties, — because Mr. Quincy, Jr., wlien he was in 
office as Mayor, with sixty thousand less inhabitants than the city has to-day under 
Mayor Lincoln, found difficulties in its government, there is any other idea to be 
entertained by a Massachusetts statesman than that of a Chancellor of Great 
Britain, that " difficulties are things intended to be overcome." The prog- 
ress of improvement tends to the concentration of population in all the great 
centres of industry and commerce, and that must be attended with material and 
with moral dangers ; but are we, like cowards, to flee from them, or are we, by the 
virtue that inheres in a virtuous and resolute people, to manage and control them ? 
I believe it is the sentiment of the best people of our community, that the police 
regulations, as between these tAvo communities, would be greatly improved by 
concentrating them under one municipal head. 

But, sir, I leave these considerations to your judgment. I submit that the city 
of Roxbury may well come here and ask for this union with her parent city ; — 
parent, because she was once with her and of her. She is coeval Avith her, it is 
true ; the days of John Eliot and the days of Blackstone Avere contempwaneous ; 
and the three-hilled city may well be glad now to unite with and become a part of 
the city where that great apostle wrought his Avonderful Avork. But, Mr. Chair- 
man, to say that Roxbury comes here to ask for something that is " monstrous," 
or " novel," or an " invasion of Democratic principles," is to assign to them, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, a motive Avhich does not belong to the application, or to 
those Avho favor it now before you. 

But there are other parties in interest, it is said ; and my excellent friend, Mr. 
Safford, the chairman of the County Commissioners of Norfolk, comes here, and, I 
confess, amused me a little by the vieAv Avhich he presented of the rights and claims 
of that county. He started Avith the idea of the great importance of county organi- 
zations and county lines, and said that the annexation of a single Avard of Roxbury 
— the loAver ward — would accomplish all the purposes of this petition, Avithout 
taking in the highlands ; and that even the annexation of that loAver Avard Avould 
not be justifiable unless a great and pressing exigency demanded it ; but to destroy 
the independence of a great city, that Avas monstrous. Before he got through Avith 
his address, however, Mr. Chairman, his mind had undergone such a change that 
he suggested that, upon tlie Avhole, it Avould be better to Avait a little Avhile, until 
a general act of legislation should be passed, Avlien this Boston anaconda could, 
with the votes of all the surrounding suburban toAvns, SAvallow the Avliole, as a 
single mouthful. In other AA^ords, that there should be a genei'al laAV upon this 
subject, if there Avas to be anything, Avhich AA'^ould authorize any one of these subur- 
ban towns to be annexed to Boston, upon the vote of Bosto^i and the town itself. 
Well, that Avas a leap from a rather spare meal to one a little larger than anything 
Ave ask for noAV, hungry as Ave may be supposed to be. Tlien there Avas another 
claim made in behalf of the County of Norfolk, — that tlie annexation of Roxbury 



13 

to Boston would be a very great hardship upon her, because it would reduce her 
territory, and size was a very important thing in a county. But, Mr. Chairman, 
did he apply this to the little county of Suffolk ? O no ! He said it would not 
benefit Boston a single dollar's worth to have any more land annexed to it ; that it 
Avas all moonshine that any increase of territory was going to increase the pros- 
perity or business of Boston ; and yet, it was of the last importance that Norfolk 
County should retain all her territory, because to reduce the size of that county 
would be a very great evil. Now, I think I can do better justice to the County 
of Norfolk, for which I have some affection, for I passed one of the happiest years 
of my life in its old shire town, and used to ride into Boston over that long isthmus 
of which I have spoken, and I could take a long drive before I encountered a 
dwelling, or even a store, — I think I can do better justice, I say, to the County of 
Norfolk, than its commissioner has done. I agree, that if it could be shown that 
the annexation of Roxbury to Boston would be a great evil to Noi-folk County, it 
would be a sei-ious objection to the measure ; and I should be very reluctant to 
say that I would interfere with county lines to the great prejudice of any county 
in the Commonwealth. But, after all, is it not true that these county lines are, as 
respects legislation, precisely like city and town lines ? Are they to be held any 
more sacred ? Are we to have the appeal made to us upon mere sentiment, that 
the " old " County of Norfolk — seventy-two years old — younger than a great many 
men now in active business in this city — should not have so valuable a portion of 
her territory transferred ? What reason is given ? Does she receive more in the 
taxes she assesses upon the city of Roxbury, than she dispenses in benefits to the 
city? Are not the burdens correlative and coequal? If they are not, then there 
is some injustice. Norfolk gets from Roxbury more than a just equivalent for 
the burdens she imposes on the county, or she does not. If she does, you will all 
agree that it is unjust, and certainly furnishes no fair ground for argument that 
Norfolk should retain her. If she does not, then certainly Norfolk County has no 
interest in opposing this union between Roxbury and Boston. But I maintain, 
Mr. Chairman, that there never has been so propitious a period for this change as 
now. I have some gratification in stating, tliat I had a conversation to-day with 
a distinguished citizen of Norfolk County, not a resident of Roxbury, who agreed 
with mejhat there never was a period when Roxbury could have been taken off 
from the County of Norfolk with less disadvantage to the county, than she could 
be at this moment. And why ? Because, sir, since the last effort in this direction 
was made, Norfolk County has been diligent in putting herself in condition for the 
inevitable hour that her wisest men have known was coming. She has recon- 
structed her county buildings, her court house, her jail, her house of correction, 
and they are now, as appears by the evidence before us, in excellent condition. 
And what is the condition of the treasuiy of the county ? A most extraordinary 
condition ! In this year of grace, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, when every 
county in Massachusetts, except Norfolk, shows great and unprecedented expen- 
ditures for the last few years, Norfolk County shows scarcely any debt at all. 
Eight thousand dollars the wliole amount of her debt, — a merely nominal sum ; 
and all these great improvements, to which Roxbury has contributed so liberally, 
made and co.npleted. Ought the County of Noriblk, then, to interpose, and say, 
" We will hold you against your will, and against your own interests " ? It is to 
be remembered, also, Mr. Chairman, that at the time West Roxbury was created 
a separate town, it was supposed and alleged, that the line between West Roxbuiy 
and the city of Roxbuiy would be the county line, — contemplated — looked for- 
Avard to. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I come to the consideration of another point ; and in the 
discussion of a question like this, if I had not entire confidence in the justice, in 
the expediency, in the riglit of the measure, I should feel that it was necessary to 



14 

be very diplomatic upon the question ; because, as you see, an argument -which 
induces Roxbury to favor it may, upon the principle of antagonism, induce Boston 
to reject it, and vice versa. But, sir, I am content to treat the whole question 
with entire and perfect candor, and to say, that while I maintain that it is of great 
interest to the city of Roxbury that this measure should be consummated, 1 also 
claim that it is of no less importance, — indeed, that it is, if pos>ible, of much 
greater importance to the city of Boston that it should be carried into effect. 
And why, sir ? I say to you, Mr. Chairman, that it is fast becoming to Boston a ne- 
cessity, a necessity of her life. When Boston proper consisted of but five hundred 
acres of land, before she had added to her territory South Boston and East Boston, 
she was a small commercial town, and neither her own citizens nor the people of 
the Commonwealth, represented in the Legislature, looked forward to her inevita- 
ble growth to the importance which she has now assumed. What has been the 
consequence ? The most improvident and unwise legislation with respect to this 
city. The first great mistake was in permitting the Milldam to be built, to create 
an artificial avenue where nature had already made an avenue over the neck, and 
in permitting it to be made of solid filling. And under what pretext ? Why to 
get the water power to set up a grist-mill to grind a few bushels of grain. And 
what, by the united testimony of every commission that Massachusetts has 
appointed, and Avho have reported to the Executive, or to the Legislature, upon 
the harbor of Boston, has been the effect of that Milldam upon her great interest, 
without which she perishes and dies, — her harbor ? Why, it has filled it up to 
such an extent that even to-day there appears before you a petition from the 
Harbor Commissioners of this city, asking you to devise some means to check 
the constantly increasing destruction of harbor facilities which is going on, and 
predicting, if they do thus go on, there will be no harbor here in which a Euro- 
pean steamer can float. Unquestionably, the Commonwealth, by the most im- 
provident legislation, as I say, has permitted this to go on. Why has it been so ? 
Because Boston has been so contracted in her area, has been so narrow a terri- 
tory, that she has been compelled to make land, instead of going out by the natural 
outlet that Providence had assigned her, and taking in the land which had already 
been prepared for her. That is the reason for it, and that is why this measure 
has become a vital necessity for Boston. She must get, somewhere, l^nd for 
buildings, or else this pressure must continue to go on. Why, ]Mr. Chairman, I 
believe it is agreed on all hands, — it is a fixct, I know, for I have had, in another 
relation, where I was acting as Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, much to 
do with these flats, — that the original territory of Boston proper was smaller than 
the land that has actually been made since. She has to-day more land that has 
been constructed by the hand of man than was assigned to her by the hand of 
Divine Providence as the site of the city ; and this process is going on. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I pass to another consideration in respect to Boston. 
There never was a more opportune moment, a more pi'opitious season for her to 
take to her embrace her sister city, with which she is destined to be united, (that 
I look upon as one of the inevitable facts of the future,) than at this moment, in 
view of the amount of the public debt. Look at it for a single moment. The 
population of Roxbury to-day is just about one-seventh the population of the city 
of Boston. Assuming that the water debt is an obligation that will take care of 
itself — and I do that, although there has been a question made here whetlier it 
does pay for itself — Roxbury has a debt which is about one-tenth the debt of the 
city of Boston. 

Then there are other considerations, which are immediately pressing. All the 
cities of the Commonwealth, as is well known, are this year to be redistricted, for 
the purpose of fixing the apportionment of representatives. That, therefore, is a 
matter of great importance. Wait until another year, and you would have to 



15 

disturb the relations of the different wards of the city in order to consummate 
this measure ; and therefore, I submit, that is an important consideration. 

With reference to the grade of sti-cets and drainage, I respectfully refer the 
Committee to the testimony of Mr. Matthews and Mr. Purdy, without stopping to 
dwell upon it. I regard that of Mr. Purdy, especially, as very important. Then 
with respect to the streets and avenues. In the narrow and contracted area of 
this peninsular city, they submitted to the inconvenience of tortuous, crooked and 
narrow streets, because they had so little land ; they are now endeavoring to 
remedy that, by the construction of wide and spacious avenues. Where are these 
avenues to lead ? All of them out to Roxbury and Brookline. How important 
to the city of Boston that there should be no conflict of jurisdiction with respect 
to them ! How important that the direction of great works like these, essential 
to the salul)rity of the city, to its health, to its comfort, should be under the control 
of one municipal head ! How important that an avenue like Albany Street, 
which we had an opportunity of looking at the other day, should not find its 
terminus at a Roxbury nuisance, but should be projected still further onward, into 
the pure air of the country ! 

But with reference to this matter, there are other considerations, almost too 
weighty for the hurried and discursive manner in which I must approach and 
pass them. One has relation to the sanitary condition of Boston. If there is any 
one subject which has excited the interest of intelligent men throughout the 
world during the last ten or fifteen years, and which is especially exciting the 
interest of the legislative government of Massachusetts, it is the sanitary condition 
of the people. Now, this want of foresight and forecast, to which I have so 
repeatedly adverted, has prevented Boston from securing for herself, — under the 
admonitions of a gentleman, whom we have had here as a witness, — Mr. Geoi-ge 
H. Snelling, — that which would have made her the empress city of this continent ; 
which, in respect to her sanitary interests, and the comfort and beauty of the 
city, would have made her surpass New York, with her Central Park, a hundred 
fold. In laying out the Back Bay lands, which are owned by the Commonwealth, 
and which have been transferred from the municipal jurisdiction of Roxbury to 
that of Boston, there should have been left a wide and spacious tidal lake, 
bordered on each side with spacious avenues, lined with trees, renewed by the 
tides every day from Charles River, kept, as it was perfectly practicable to do by 
engineering skill, at any level, and extending out to Roxbury from the foot 
of the Common and the beautiful Public Garden, An opportunity was here pre- 
sented of making this a second city of Hamburg, with its " Inner- Alster," a corres- 
ponding sheet of water, over which the summer winds would pass, to be cooled 
for the fevered brow of the invalid, and for the pleasure and delight of the well, 
the strong and the happy. This would have made Boston the unrivalled city of 
America ; but the short-sightedness which looked only to a few dollars to be made 
to-day, by the sale of a few lots of land on the Back Bay, prevented that, 
although it was urged by the best intelligence of the State as being not only a 
Avise measure, with reference to the health and happiness of the city, but even 
with reference to the pecuniary interests of the Commonwealth. That has gone 
by. That has been lost to us, and lost within these past few years. Mr. Chairman, 
as its only substitute, these avenues have now been laid out. Should they not 
extend into the country, from whence they can bring to us the fresh airs from the 
Berkshire hills, even, to circulate througli every narrow and crooked lane and 
alley of the crowded city ? Is there any extravagance in the statement of the 
sanitary interests which belong to this question, arising out of the five or six 
avenues which lead directly towards the city of Roxbury ? And if it be true that 
there are such interests, how important is it that they should be under one munici- 
pal direction and control ? You have not forgotten, surely, Mr. Chairman, and it is 



16 

only necessary for me to advert to it in passing, the very strong testimony on 
this subject of Alderman Clapp, who lias given great attention to the sanitary 
condition of Boston ; and of Mr. Mei-rill, whose strong common sense appeared 
so conspicuously in his testimony as a witness upon this subject ; and the scientific 
testimony of Mr. Snelling, also, Avho has paid more attention to this subject, 
perhaps, than any other gentleman in the city. I advert to their testimony as 
sustaining the view that I take. 

But, sir, there is another point, which has almost been the subject of a sneer. 
I crave'leave to present it to this Committee as worthy of their consideration in 
the highest degree. I maintain that the increase of the city of Boston, as an ele- 
ment of commercial strength, is one of the most important arguments in favor of 
the annexation of Roxbury to this city. It is not fanciful or fantastic to say, that 
population is an element of strength. Is Boston to stop in her career of prosper- 
ity, when this country takes her " departure," to use a nautical phrase, on the 
new voyage which is before her, because she has no more land for her people to 
occupy ? Is it merely a fanciful idea, that great centres of population attract and 
draw to themselves business, trade, commerce ? Why, sir, I think the opinions of 
such gentlemen as Mr. Ilichard.-on, the President of the Board of Trade, and Mr. 
George B. Upton, who, as a legislator as well as a merchant, has shown great 
sagacity, and is relied upon as a gentleman of excellent sense and judgment in all 
such matters, and Mr. Hurlbut, to whom it is only necessary for me to refer, in 
order to recall the forecast and the extreme intelligence exhibited in his testi- 
mony, — I say, sir, that I think the opinions of such men are entitled to great 
weight on a question like this. But beyond all this, s^ir, I think it will be agreed, 
that on such a question, the Mayor of this city would not be likely to commit 
himself to any very great absurdity ; and yet, what does he say, in his Address of 
this very year, and upon this very subject ? 

" The annexation of the adjacent city of Roxbury to Boston has again been 
agitated, and we have been notified, as an interested party, that a petition will be 
presented to the next Legislature for an act to carry it into effect. There can be 
no doixbt that population and territorial limits add very much to the character and 
reputation of a city at home and abroad. Commerce, business, maritime adven- 
tures seek large aggregations of people ; and if Boston is to increase very materi- 
ally in her numbers, keeping the dwellings of her active men within her munici- 
pal limits, it must be through the annexation of some of the adjacent territory. 
There is no natural boundary between this city and Roxbury, and public sentiment 
in both communities, I believe, is rapidly tending towards consoHdation. The 
decision of the question belongs primarily to the people, and possibly it is a subject 
■which we should leave entirely in their hands ; but as the City Government has 
been notified of the pending petition, it may be our duty to take some action. I 
would, therefore, suggest, if it meets your approbation, that a committee be 
appointed to investigate the subject. They should ascertain the relative debt and 
property of both cities, the taxable value of estates, the question of sewerage, the 
prospective improvements required, and such other matters as will give light to 
our citizens should the Legislature sanction the union, and they be called upon to 
vote on the question." 

Mr. Chairman, is there anything absurd or fantastical in that ? The Mayor 
of this city has committed his reputation to the idea which is scouted here, — that 
population is an element of prosperity in a city ; and Mr. Nichols says it never 
attracted a dollar's worth of trade in the world, and the learned counsel repeats 
the statement with greater emphasis. Sir, I submit that population is an element 
of commercial prosperity; and is there not a plain, common-sense view of this 



IT 

matter, which overrides any theorizing upon it ? In looking at tlie prosperity 
of any city, do we not look to its increase of population ? Well, some gentle- 
men say they do not object to an increase of popnlation, provided it is a natural 
and normal increase Let us be a little exact in the use of terms. What is the 
natural increase of a city ? Is it any less a natural increase to take such a com- 
munity as Roxbury, kindred in all its pursuits, educated under the same insti- 
tutions, under tlie same influences, and annex it by legislation to Boston, than the 
importation of ten thousand foreigners a year, or twenty thousand, as the case may 
be, or, as in the case of Chicago, of forty thousand a year ? I do not see it, sir. 
And that Boston must have some place where she can expand is evident from the 
mere extension of her territory, and a reference to her history. And where is the 
future magnificence of the city, which was auspicated and predicted by the venei'- 
able gentleman who has been so often referred to, Josiah Quincy, Sen., — where 
is that to be found, unless it be annexed, which tlie learned counsel said Mr. 
Quincy signed a petition to prevent in 1860? Through the kindness of Mr. 
Snelling, I have had put into my hands a remarkable letter of Mr. Quincy, Avhich 
I shall ask you to construe, to see if it justifies the interpretation of his sentiments 
which has been given by Mr. Quincy, Jr., and by the learned counsel : — 

Gkokge H. Snelling, Esq. : Dear Sir, — According to your request, I have 
signed the memorial to the Legislature, soliciting a modification of the plan of 
building on the Back Bay lands. In doing it, I have deviated from a rule of 
conduct I had prescribed to myself At my period of life, to take a lead in 
suggesting, or advocating, local city improvements, I deem an assumption, which 
I avoid. I have yielded to the obviousness of the vital importance to the future 
health and comfort of the inhabitants of the city, which your memorial so fully 
and ably illustrates and explains. 

The prospects of Boston for future extent and population are marfnificent. 
Massachusetts, although she has already, by voluntary self-sacrifice, deprived her- 
self of by far the largest portion of her ancient territory, is yet, by her intellectual 
and moral power destined to be the leading influence, in these Northern States. 
For this distinction she is largely, if^not chiefly indebted to the skill, wealth and 
enterprise of the inhabitants of this city. I trust, therefore, and cannot doubt, 
that the Legislature will realize that the permanent interests and prosperity of 
every part of the State are identified unth patronizing improvements, such as you 
suggest, apparently so essenticd to the future health and accommodation of the 
inhabitants of her capital. 

With great respect, I am yours, Josiah Quincy. 

Quincy, 29th July, 1859. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I propose to deal frankly with a matter upon which my 
learned friend, I think, did not do justice to me this morning. I have little dispo- 
sition to make personal issues with my bretlu'en, with whom I am trying causes 
before any tribunal ; but I confess I did feel a little aggrieved at what was said 
by the learned counsel when I asked him to find anything which had been said 
by my associate in his opening, either upon my suggestion, or upon his own motion, 
that would justify his remark, that I or my associate had stated that Boston 
was already under the influence of a government which it was important to her 
interests to dispossess. Sir, I said, and I thought, no such thing as that. I never 
had the idea. I never gave expression to it ; and I heard nothing from my asso- 
ciate to justify the statement that was made on the other side. But, sir, I do say 
this, — and I shall not blink the question here or anywhere ; that in the future of 
Boston, if it is to go on for fifty years (and in the life of a State, tliat is but a sec- 
ond of time,) as it has been going on for the last twenty years, there will be an 



18 

exodus from these dwellings and these streets of that (I still adhere to the phrase) 
" better class " of our people, to make Avay for those who by origin, by education, by 
institutions, are less competent than they to manage the affairs of great municipali- 
ties. That is what I say, and what I stand to ; and if Boston is to have no room 
to expand in, the inevitable hour that will witness that is to come. And do you 
tell me, Mr. Chairman, or does the learned counsel undertake to tell me, that I, as a 
citizen of this Commonwealth, with boys to nurture and educate, have no interest in 
that question ? Is not every household, not to say every home, every hamlet, every 
village and town in Massachusetts interested in it ? Why, sir, what is to reinforce, 
with its vital blood, this city, this capital, not of IMassachusetts alone, but of all 
New England, — but the young, fresh enterprise that is to come liither from our 
homes in the country ? What is the experience of every great city ? As " wealth 
accumulates and men decay," as the increase of wealth leads to habits of indolence 
in the young, and the old families die out, how is it that its population is made to 
perform the service which a great capital demands ? By a reinforcement from the 
fresh blood of the country. Are you, sir, to invite to your capital the young men 
who are to come forward, -in countless generations hereafter, to devote their 
energies, and their accumulations, whatever they may be, of health, of talent, or 
of learning, to the service of this capital, without permitting them to have a voice 
in its municipal affairs, because, forsooth, its land is taken up with warehouses 
and storehouses, and the dwellings of the less competent portion of the population 
of a great city ? Will you not rather say, " We in our day and generation did 
what Ave could to give to the capital of New England sufhcient territory, a suffi- 
ciently broad area, to enable her to invite in, not to her business and her entei-prise 
alone, but to a participation in her municipal affairs, the best population of New 
England " ? 

Sir, what has been the course of legislation in IMassachusetts with respect to 
Boston ? Has it not been such as to indicate a recognition of the truth that the 
interests of this capital are the interests qf the Commonwealth in every respect ? 
Why did Massachusetts, thirty years ago, commit her credit to Avhat was then 
regarded, by these men avIio represent, Avhat I must call, for Avant of a better term, 
the old fogyism of the Commonwealth, as a A'cry perilous enterprise — the construc- 
tion of the Western Railroad — except that she AA'anted to make an avenue into her 
capital Avhich AA'ould enable it to increase in commercial prosperity ? Why is she 
to-day boring a mountain of rock, except that her capital Avants new avenues to 
the West ? What is that capital to be, if the policy is to be pursued of looking at 
the trivial matters (I cannot designate them by any more respectful term,) that 
have occupied so much of our time in the course of this investigation ? What sort 
of a capital is it to be ? One that is to be confined to an area so narrow that she 
shall be obliged, even at the risk of sacrificing her noble and capacious harbor, to 
increase it by making the land she Avould not seek a little way beyond it, exposing 
her to the miasma that is to come from these marshes, but Avhich, under skilful, 
intelligent and scientific management, and imder one municipal corporation, such 
as Boston Avill be, Avith the added intelligence of Roxbury to it, might be made, 
not only innocuous, but salubrious, and thus increase the value and importance of 
all her territory? 

No legislation is in danger of looking too far into the future. The danger is, 
that Ave shall look too much to the past for precedents, and too much to the petty 
exigencies of the present. He is likely to be the Avisest man, in legislating for any 
community, who takes the largest and broadest vicAv of its future necessities and 
Avants. Mr. Chairman, I Avas in this House in eighteen hundred and thirty-five, 
and participated in some legislation Avhich contemplated then a very near future, 
and not a very remote one. The railroad system of Massachusetts Avas then about 
being inaugurated ; indeed, it Avas during that year that the road from Boston to 



19 

Worcester was first opened, when, as the old banker, Mr. Degrand, said, " Boston 
extended her Long Wharf forty-five miles up into the country." You remember, 
sir, that Dr. Lardner, a famous scientific man, demonstrated that a steamer could 
never cross the ocean, and while he was lecturing and demonstrating it, the first 
steamer made the passage. Well, sir, the original system of railroad travel in 
Massachusetts was very much like that. The idea was, that our railroad system 
was to give us rails running from point to point, upon which we were to ride in 
our own vehicles, stopping at the gates to pay tolls. That was the first legislation 
of Massachusetts upon the subject of railroads ; and yet at that time, science had 
demonstrated that steam locomotion was a perfectly practicable thing on railroads. 
I had myself, at our little local lyceum, delivered three lectures on the subject, 
with a little model steam-engine, to the great delight of the people who saw_ it 
traversmg the table in front of me, with a little car attached, loaded with imitation 
cotton bales. But we went on, utterly regardless of the fact, which scientific men 
said was indubitable, that steam locomotion upon railroads was to supersede all 
the ordinary modes of travel, and incorporated into our legislation at that time, 
what seems now a most absurd system of travel — every man in his own carriage, 
stopping at the toll gates to pay toll. Now, sir, my argument is, that we are here 
on behalf of these petitioners, not for to-day alone, but for the great future.^ No 
one can doubt, with the impetus that has been given, that this is a step in the 
right direction ; and although I agree most heartily with all that has been said 
.about the other step which has just been taken by the merchants here in opening 
their Trade Sale, still, the two things are not inconsistent, but help and support each 
other. If these trade sales are to go on, if, to sum it all up in few words, the com- 
mercial prosperity of Boston is to be advanced and supported, then you must give 
Boston more room to grow in. Everybody feels that, — feels it as an instinct ; 
and these gentlemen wdio come here and look forward with dismay to the destruc- 
tion and extinguishment of their ancient city, will not live three years after the 
consummation of this measure, without thanking you and all of us who aided in 
bringing about this great result. Why, sir, in eighteen hundred and forty-five, I 
had a little experience in the Legislature with respect to Harrison Square, over 
here in Dorcliester. I happened to be chairman of a committee on the part of 
the Senate, of which Mr. Peleg W. Chandler, of this city, was Chairman on the 
part of the House, and we granted the right to build a bridge over Fort Point 
Channel — not a solid filling, sir, for I very early got my face set against any solid 
bridges over Boston Harbor, but a bridge on piles. There was such a feeling of 
resentment excited about it, that I believe Mr. Chandler and myself, who were 
very resolute in carrying the measure through, were bux-ned in etfigy by the peo- 
ple, who thought their interests were utterly ruined by this atrocious piece of 
legislation. But, Mr. Chairman, it was not a year from the time that bill passed 
the Legislature, before those very gentlemen gave an entertainment at Harrison 
Square, — a dinner of rejoicing over the result of that enterprise — to which Mr. 
Chandler and myself were invited, as honored guests. The whole thing had 
turned out very differently from what they had anticipated. It had advanced the 
value of their prDperty, and demonstrated that it was a step in the right direction. 
It was a stage of advancement, and the result has been, that that place, which was 
then very sparsely populated, has now become one of the most populous suburbs 
of the city of Boston. 

I have already occupied more of your time, Mr. Chairman, than I am entitled 
.to ; and at the same time, have not discussed this case as thoroughly as I ought, 
in justice to those whom I represent here. But I have endeavored to touch all 
the salient points of the case ; and I come back, in conclusion, to say simply this : 
This is a measure which looks to the future. Those who are promoting it, can 
have no other interest than in the advancement of the prosperity, the happiness, 



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and the comfort of the respective communities with which they are associated 
The live, thousand petitioners from Boston, and the two thousand from Roxbury 
embracmg men of every pursuit, and every grade of intelligence, certainly canno 
be mistaken ni thmkmg that it is a fair and just question to be submitted to thos( 
who ought to control it. Who is there here who can stand up and say, in tin 
spirit of a man who believes in Republican institutions, and does not merely moutl 
It and pretend to believe in them,— who can stand up here and say that a questior 
like this ought not properly to be submitted to those who can intelligently decide 
It, and who have the deepest interest in deciding it right ? Sir, suchlias been the 
view that has been taken by the Massachusetts Legislature her. tofore ; I trust ii 
will be the view taken now ; and when it comes before the final tribunal,— those 
who are to be affected by it permanently in all their interests,— I trust that thej 
wdl see that it is a measure that is promotive of the hap()iness and prosperity ol 
the whole. And I can assure those who are here to-day deprecating it, (but nc 
more earnestly than some of these witnesses who have been produced by the peti- 
tioners opposed it five years ago,) that they will find, in the words of the old 
hymn,— which is the only poetry I propose to quote as an offset to the beautiful 
poetry that has been quoted by my friend — 

" The clouds they so much dread, 
Are biif with mercies; and will break 
With blessings on their head." 



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